METALS & MINING
Alcan Achieves Early Start Up with
AMS Suite: Intelligent Device Manager
DeltaV , and Rosemount Devices
™
™
®
RESULTS
• Commissioning finished 10 months early
• 30% cost savings in termination costs
• Reduction of manpower needed for commissioning
• 30% savings in engineering such as loop drawings
APPLICATION
Bauxite to alumina mineral processing refinery
CUSTOMER
Alcan Bauxite and Alumina, Nhulunbuy (Gove), Arnhem Land, NT,
Australia with Alcan Engineering, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Both
facilities are part of Alcan International, a world leader in bauxite
and alumina.
CHALLENGE
Alcan was expanding its bauxite to alumina mineral processing
refinery from 2.2 to 3.8 million tons using the Bayer process.
The expansion included 6,600 FOUNDATION™ fieldbus devices, 1,100
Profibus devices, and 3,000 conventional devices on a large number
of process modules. Alcan had a tight scheduled to execute this
project and a restriction on the number of people allocated for the
project. They also had a mixture of greenfield and brownfield units
operating in series and parallel that had to be integrated into a single
operator console system.
Onsite work was expensive and offsite work was one third of
the cost. Alcan’s requirements included balancing cost, staying
on schedule and minimizing the number of onsite workers.
For more information:
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“Thanks to F O U N D A T ION
fieldbus we had 30% savings
on engineering on e.g. loop
drawings and maintaining the
drawings up to date in the
future also becomes easier.”
Manoj Pandya
Manager - I&C Engineering
POWER GENERATION
METALS
& MINING
SOLUTION
To meet this challenge, Alcan decided to expand using a
Pre-Assembled Module (PAM) concept. The PAM concept enabled
all modules to be built offsite in Thailand and Vietnam. Alcan chose
Emerson technology to help with pre-commissioning and basic
function tests, such as valve stroking, to ensure the quality of
the offsite work. By using DeltaV and AMS Device Manager to
pre-commission FOUNDATION fieldbus devices, Alcan significantly
reduced man-hours and experienced cost savings.
By maximizing the work offsite, only 100 devices had to be installed
onsite with only 12 required buses. When the PAM modules arrived
onsite, only a few bus wires per module had to be connected. The
project was executed in 26 months instead of the scheduled 36
months, allowing Alcan to start up its first facility 10 months early.
Alcan used Rosemont 848T multi-point temperature transmitters
for large pumps and agitators to reduce sensor wiring length by
mounting near the sensor, reducing the number of transmitters
by using multiple channels, and the amount of fieldbus networking
hardware by using fewer devices They also used a Rosemont 848L
logic transmitter mounted near the pneumatic cutting tool
cylinders that are fired to punch a clear hole removing scaling
build up on pressure taps, reducing the length of the wiring.
“We are not just putting in
fieldbus, we are changing the
maintenance practices.”
Greg Daniels
Control Systems Leader
Alcan also used the experience of Emerson engineering experts
to help with the planning, pre-commissioning, and configuration.
According to Manoj Pandya, "We could not have met cost and
schedule the conventional way."
Emerson Process Management
Asset Optimization Division
12001 Technology Drive
Eden Prairie, MN 55344 USA
T (952) 828-3206
F (952) 828-3033
www.assetweb.com
AMS Suite: Intelligent Device
Manager powersPlantWeb
through predictive and proactive
maintenance of intelligent field
devices to improve availability
and performance
©2007, Emerson Process Management.
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